23/05/2026 - A Wet Start - Morning Weather Forecast UK – Met Office Weather

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Hi there. For many of us, today is just the start of the long hot weekend. In fact, despite temperatures reaching the high 20s and one or two spots 30 Celsius, it's the coolest of the threeday weekend. A cold front is going through as we speak. That's introduced a bit more cloud overnight. One or two showers will clear East Anglia and the southeast during the morning. So, a little bit of a slower start to things compared to the next couple of days, but sunshine does return widely across England and Wales. Patchy sun for some parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, drying up across Scotland and Northern Ireland, even if we keep cloudy skies and one or two light showers towards the far northwest. But it's in the south with that strong sunshine where the heat will be peaking. We're talking about mid to high 20s widely and one or two spots 30 Celsius or so in the southeast.

[00:00:53]Cooler for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Northern England. And outbreaks of rain return to the northwest of Scotland, mostly the Northwest Highlands, Lewis, Harris, and then later Orne overnight.

[00:01:04]Much of this rain to the north of the central belt. So for many other parts of the UK, it's a dry night with clear spells. Big variability in temperatures overnight. There'll actually be some sheltered spots where it gets a little on the chilly side. talk about mid to low single figures, but in other spots where we keep the daytime heat, it's going to remain at around the mid or even higher teens. So, yeah, a contrasting start to Sunday, but with high pressure in charge across many parts of the UK, it's going to be another sunny start to the day. A weak weather front dies of death across Scotland and Northern Ireland. And actually over the next few days, you can see how that high builds towards the north with a better chance of sunshine developing widely then across Northern Ireland and Scotland compared with the next couple of days. So that high pressure keeping things dry and fine for the vast majority this weekend and beyond well into next week. Even if you don't get the peak of the temperatures that many southern and southeastern parts get over the next couple of days, it's going to be a fine few days to come. Having said that, we do have that weak weather front across the north and northwest of Scotland. Outbreaks of rain, especially for the West Highlands and the outer hees during the morning and petering out into the afternoon.

[00:02:17]Further south through the central belt, southwards into Northern Ireland, southern Scotland, and for much of England and Wales, it's blue skies, strong sunshine, high UV, and temperatures rising rapidly. We're talking about high teens widely across England and Wales and the chance of 30 to 32 Celsius in the Southeast. Cooler around coasts, significantly cooler for some coasts and for Scotland and Northern Ireland where we get some brightness, high teens, low 20s, but we're not talking about remarkable temperatures in the north compared with the south. Then into bank holiday Monday could be the hottest bank holiday on record. Not just May bank holidays, but any bank holidays. 33.3 Celsius, the current record, and likely 80% chance that it will be the hottest May day on record. 32.8 Celsius, the current record, because widely across the UK, it's simply going to be dry, fine, and bright. An area of cloud at times for northern parts, unbroken sunshine further south, and that strong sunshine helping add another degree or two compared with Sat Sunday's temperatures.

[00:03:24]We're talking about 32 to 33 Celsius in the Southeast. A small chance it' be even higher than that. Widely into the low30s for parts of England and perhaps Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, Northern England, North Wales, low 20s more likely. But as I mentioned, widely fine through Tuesday into Wednesday, Thursday and so on. One thing to mention is that yeah, high UV, high temperatures, all that sort of thing, but water bodies are going to be significantly cooler. So bear that in mind if you're jumping into water this weekend. Cold water shock is a very real risk. Bye-bye.